The ice blades sliced against his body with unbearable pain. The cold sweat on Lin Xuan’s forehead quickly froze as he endured agony that ordinary people could never withstand, forcing himself to continue cultivating.

Points of light danced through the sky—these were particles of spiritual energy. Normally, even cultivators couldn’t see them; only when spiritual energy reached a certain level of purity could one perceive it.

What Lin Xuan needed to do was absorb these luminous particles of spiritual energy into his body. Such pure spiritual energy was far easier to refine into spiritual power.

Because he could see them, absorption wasn’t difficult, but the prerequisite was enduring the agony of ice blades gnawing at his body.

One by one, the particles of spiritual energy were drawn into his body. Following his sect’s mental cultivation method, Lin Xuan channeled them all into his dantian, where they gathered into a sphere of spiritual energy.

Next came refinement. The sphere of spiritual energy spun continuously within his dantian, its volume shrinking while its color grew increasingly dense.

Finally, it transformed into a stream of spiritual power that dispersed throughout his dantian.

Lin Xuan’s endurance had reached its limit. He immediately bolted out of the illusion’s range.

Collapsing on the ground, Lin Xuan gasped for breath, not wanting to move even a finger.

…

This process repeated itself over and over for several hours. Only when darkness fell did Lin Xuan finally walk toward the exit of the Heart Refining Path.

“Did you hear? That disciple without spiritual roots went to cultivate at the Heart Refining Path.”

“Yeah, apparently Senior Uncle Ma saw it with his own eyes.”

“Hmph, what good is willpower? Ordinary people are destined to achieve nothing on the immortal path. Trash will always be trash!”

…

On his way back, Lin Xuan happened to overhear disciples gossiping about him. Though they noticed him, those disciples didn’t care in the slightest, continuing to mock him with sarcastic tones.

Lin Xuan furrowed his brow, but he wouldn’t get angry—there was no point. In the Cultivation World, there was only one path to earning others’ respect: strength. Rather than waste energy on pointless anger here, he’d be better off returning to rest and continue practicing.

Back at his quarters, Lin Xuan pulled [stolen content]open a drawer and took out papers covered with cultivation methods.

Object Manipulation Technique—a spell that used spiritual power to control objects from a distance. It was one of the most basic yet most important spells in the Cultivation World, the fundamental technique for using magical treasures. Of course, magical treasures were still far beyond Lin Xuan’s reach for now, but he could at least practice this spell.

Circulate one’s spiritual energy, focus one’s divine sense, attach one’s consciousness to an object, and make it move.

Throughout the entire afternoon, Lin Xuan practiced again and again. He had tried before and failed, but after cultivating at the Heart Refining Path for so many days, his spiritual power had grown somewhat stronger, giving him reason for a new attempt.

Several hours passed in the blink of an eye. He kept his concentration fixed on the cup in front of him until his eyes grew sore and his head felt dizzy. Lin Xuan rested briefly, then continued…

Hard work pays off. Suddenly, the cup moved.

Though the movement was slight, it definitely moved. Lin Xuan didn’t stop. He circulated his spiritual power and continued practicing the Object Manipulation Technique until very late before finally going to bed.

The next day, Lin Xuan returned to the Heart Refining Path.

Mist hung thick and ghostly shadows loomed everywhere. This time, the illusion was the underworld—countless malevolent spirits lunged toward Lin Xuan, yet the young man remained unmoved.

During this period of arduous cultivation, not only had his strength increased, but Lin Xuan’s mental fortitude had also become more resilient and mature, and his ​Read on Jormuntl​endurance had improved dramatically. Initially, Lin Xuan could only remain in the terrifying illusions for a few minutes. Now, even though he ventured deeper and the illusions grew more frightening, he could persist for an entire hour.

Ghosts and various horrifying scenes materialized in his mind. All manner of mentally devastating negative influences assailed him. Lin Xuan gritted his teeth, enduring the pain while striving to absorb spiritual energy and cultivate.

…

After leaving the illusion’s sphere of influence, Lin Xuan sat cross-legged on the ground, refining the spiritual energy he had absorbed, then performed the Heavenly Cycle circulation.

The energy flowed through his meridians and ultimately returned to his dantian. Lin Xuan completed nine full cycles. Although circulating spiritual power through the meridians allowed it to grow slowly, it also placed an enormous burden on the body. Most disciples only did three cycles, but Lin Xuan had set nine as his personal requirement.

This approached the human body’s absolute limit. The first three cycles were manageable. During the fourth and fifth, his meridians felt sore and swollen. By the seventh and eighth, the pain was like being cut with knives. As for the ninth cycle, it was agony comparable to purgatory itself. Beads of sweat the size of soybeans covered Lin Xuan’s forehead, and his body trembled involuntarily from the pain, yet he stubbornly persevered. Several hours later, he finally completed his goal.

Having finished the Great Circulation practice, Lin Xuan re-entered the illusion.

And so it continued, cycle after cycle. Lin Xuan worked diligently at the Heart Refining Path, enduring through sheer willpower pain that typically only Foundation Establishment cultivators could withstand.

Lin Xuan sat cross-legged on the ground like an old monk in deep meditation. Within his dantian, a pale cyan sphere constantly twisted and transformed—it was formed from accumulated spiritual power.

Threads of spiritual power continued to be injected into that sphere. After cultivating at the Heart Refining Path for a month, Lin Xuan felt his cultivation base had increased considerably, and he launched [unauthorized copy]another assault on the second layer of the Spirit Stirring Realm.

For cultivators, each time they ascended one layer in realm, their spiritual power would undergo a transformation. Lin Xuan was now at the most critical stage.

Just a little more!

He expanded his divine sense throughout his entire dantian, desperately searching for any residual spiritual power and injecting it into the sphere. Lin Xuan felt like a wrung-out sponge being forced to squeeze out one more drop of water.

Crackle…

The sphere of spiritual power underwent another change. Bolts of lightning appeared on its surface, and spiritual energy began leaking out. The sphere was on the verge of collapse.

Lin Xuan didn’t give up, trying his utmost to maintain it, but he had already reached his limit. Bang—a soft sound, and the cyan sphere burst apart. The accumulated spiritual power decomposed, once again transforming into threads as fine as hair strands, distributed evenly throughout his dantian.